Those are the words that race through my mind and into a whispered gasp as I glance out the window, “OMG… I see light. I see hope!” I stop what I’m doing and stare out across the yard, past the neighbor’s stark flat roof, and out over the river to the flickering city lights that push through the dense smoke.
I stand staring out the window contemplating, remembering the moment I was standing at this same window just a couple days ago trying to blink past the powdery ember grey shroud that masked everything into an eerie oblivion. I remember standing here with tears washing the dusty ashes away from my inner thoughts, wondering if the wild fires would ever stop. I was desperately longing to inhale fresh invigorating air without choking on the sulfer smoke that quenched all hopes for fresh oxygen. Instead, each breath left an unquenchable urge to inhale again. It taunted and haunted me for what was being quenched by the fierce fires around me.
In looking back, I had taken it all for granted until a couple weeks ago. But, that was before the billowing smoke of the west coast wild fires changed the world around me and everything seemed to stand still.
Now, I stand in awe at the tiny faint flicker of lights valiantly pushing past the dense smoke that still lingers in the air. And, as I catch a glimpse of the flickering glow, somehow it beams a piercing ray of hope to the very corner of my faint-hearted, weary soul.
I see city lights off in the distance, and it indicates the smoke is clearing. The sun will shine again. These wild fires are devastating, but there is hope. There is hope that life is still fighting to survive. There is hope that over time the sun will shine again. It will rain again. Seeds will burst forth with new life again. As those tiny flickering dim city lights push through the dense smoke, they give me hope. And, where there is hope faith grows.
Yes, the fires are still burning. Yes, massive areas of ashen hills and valleys will tragically haunt us in the days, weeks, and seasons to come.
But right now, there is a flicker of light, and that brings a promise of the future.
I see lights, and I see hope.
Beautiful In Time 